8 Ways to Create a Great Online Memorial
Online memorial websites offer a lasting, meaningful way to remember the special people they’ve lost.
More and more families are choosing to honor their departed loved ones with online memorial websites that offer a lasting, meaningful way to remember the special people they’ve lost. An online memorial is a central location where friends and family can visit to share memories and stories. However, they mean much more than that. These personalized websites are a safe space where family members and friends can comfort one another and grieve collectively as they work toward healing. They are an ever-present and easily accessed reminder of your loved one’s life, loves, and legacy.
If you’d like to memorialize your loved one with a personalized website, we recommend including these eight components to create a full and memorable tribute to the special person you’ve lost.
Use a Custom Domain
One of the things that make online memorial websites impactful is the ease of access. When the web address is easy to remember, you’re more likely to visit the site in respectful remembrance more often. When you use a custom domain, as we offer here at ForeverMissed.com, you can ensure that your special person’s memorial website is easy to remember and convenient to access. It also adds a meaningful touch of personalization to the site.
Choose a Template with Ease of Use
At ForeverMissed.com, we believe it should be easy to create and contribute to an online memorial for your loved one. We work hard to ensure you don’t need technical skills or hours to make your special person’s memorial page. We feel strongly that the first step to ensuring you can create the memorial your loved one deserves is to choose a user-friendly template to get started. Otherwise, you can find yourself feeling overwhelmed or end up fielding dozens of questions from friends and family members who want to contribute but can’t figure out the technology.
Make it Shared
If you’re creating an online memorial, you’re likely sharing it with your friends and family members who also wish to honor, remember, and grieve the person you have lost. Sharing the website offers people another place to channel all the emotions that surround grief and loss. It also allows them to contribute their own photos, videos, memories, and stories. In this way, it can become a more complete and true representation of a full life well-lived. You may even find that you learn new things about your special person when viewing memories and stories through the eyes of others.
Create an Online Biography
An obituary is a customary way to announce a death, yet they often lack content that truly celebrates life. Use your online memorial as a place to write your loved one’s life story in detail. Don’t think of it as a news item, as you might an obituary. Rather, consider the things you would say, the stories you would tell, and the memories you would convey if you talked with a stranger who had never met them. This can also be a cathartic exercise for families when they combine to paint a picture of each phase of their loved one’s life.
Include Pictures and Video
While you might create a stunning visual of a person’s life by writing their biography or life story, nothing can replace treasured photos and videos. When you upload them to your online memorial website, you get the peace of mind that they will always be accessible. In addition, you gain a centralized location where you can go to remember, hear your loved one’s voice, and commemorate special events in their life through precious images.
Integrate with Social Media
An important step to take if you hope to share your loved one’s memorial page for loved ones to contribute to is to make sure it can properly integrate with common social media platforms. For example, memorial websites created here on ForeverMissed.com can integrate with Facebook and YouTube to import media files to your memorial page. Nowadays, social media profiles are often the best place to find easy access to images and videos of your special person, so making sure you have integration can allow for even more media uploads to personalize your memorial site.
Add Music
Photos and videos are special and important additions to an online memorial, but music can add another meaningful dimension. Whether you choose your loved one’s favorite song or a soundtrack that reminds you of their special meaning in your life, music creates a unique ambiance. Being able to truly personalize an online memorial website is one reason they are so popular, and music is yet another way you can create a digital tribute that truly represents your departed loved one.
Support a Special Cause
If your loved one had a favorite charity or used to donate to a non-profit, they found it meaningful, and you can add information about them to their online memorial website, too. You can make a note to donate instead of flowers in the early days after their death. You can also help to gather charitable gifts on their behalf by sharing the suggested donation information on special days each year, such as their birthday or the anniversary of their passing. Either way, your online memorial can also function as a way to continue a legacy of giving that was important to your loved one.
Final Thoughts
Creating an online memorial website is a very personal process. It can bring up many emotions and provide catharsis, too. Whether you use the suggestions above or choose a different mix of components, we hope it will aid in your healing as you honor your loved one with a special online tribute.
